Miracle as pregnant teacher's heart stops after she collapses in school - but doctors deliver her baby girl and then bring her mother back back to life

The family of a pregnant Texas teacher whose heart stopped due to an undiagnosed condition is celebrating the miraculous recovery of the mother and the arrival of her baby girl.

Erica Nigrelli, an English teacher, collapsed at work in March when she was just 36 weeks pregnant. Her quick-thinking co-workers at Elkins High School in Missouri City, Texas performed CPR and kept the 32-year-old woman alive until she could be transported to the hospital.

Now Erica and her 3-month-old baby Elayna are doing fine as the family is relieved to have made it through the terrifying ordeal.

Miracle: Erica Nigrelli, an English teacher, collapsed at work in March when she was just 36 weeks pregnant. Her co-workers performed CPR and she and her husband Nathan (right) now have a baby girl Elayna

Precious: Little Elayna was delivered via C-section at 36 weeks. She needs oxygen to breathe but is otherwise doing fine

Erica remembers that harrowing day in March, when she told her colleagues she was feeling faint and then she passed out, she told KPRC-TV.

Her husband Nathan, who is also a teacher at Elkins High School, found his wife foaming at the mouth, making gurgling sounds and just staring into space.

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Three of her co-workers, clinical assistant Maxine Reeves, school nurse
Jennifer Longoria and athletic trainer June Tomlin, jumped in and began performing CPR. The school nurse used a defibrillator to restart her heart.

Paramedics arrived and rushed her to the local hospital, where her baby was delivered via C-section one month early.

The woman was clinically dead when the baby was born and then came back to life, doctors said.

'There were two lives hanging in the balance the whole time,' her husband said about the ordeal.

Recovery: Erica, center with baby Elayna and her family, was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that causes heart irregularities due to the heart muscle becoming thick

Stronger: Though she was premature, at 3-months of age baby Elayna is growing and getting stronger

Though she was premature, little Elayna is growing and getting stronger.

She now weighs 9 pounds and though she relies on oxygen to breathe, doctors hope she could be taken off soon.

The new mother has been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood.

She was unaware that she had the condition and is grateful that her colleagues managed to intervene.

'Nine times out of ten most people die from the initial collapse,' she said, adding 'It was literally a ticking time bomb, it just happened when I was 36 weeks pregnant.'